What’s wrong with me guide bar

[Westboastfaller]

[

The holes in the drive links were a problem on .050 and long bars

Never ran .050" with holes in it with long bars. What was the actual malfunction in practice with relevance to the OP's prob?
You have to give us the threary here

 

[Ben Hur]

The holes in the drive links were a problem on .050 and long bars

Was wondering what they were for, I have some chains without holes. Seems like new stihl chains have holes, older ones no holes. But I could be wrong.

 

[Philbert]

Was wondering what they were for . . . .

Holes were primarily an Oregon design to help carry / distribute oil along the bar. Some other companies copied them. Some use dimples or other designs to do the same.

Generally not a problem, but I have seen some drive links break there when they jump off the guide bar.

Philbert

 

[albert]

I had problems with the grove packed with chips as others have. I think they went back to solid drivers again. Not many problems in same wood with solid drivers.

 

[albert]

I had problems with the grove packed with chips as others have. I think they went back to solid drivers again. Not many problems in same wood with solid drivers.

That was with off the roll skip chain.

 

[rarefish383]

No, you really can't have too much oil. I have all of my saws turned up to max. I started working for my dad in the early 70's, all of our saws had manual oilers, and as we got new saws, Dad always paid a little extra to get the manual oiler option with the automatic oilers. The goal was to have the oil tank run out just as the fuel tank ran out. I had a cheap friend that tried to get two tanks of oil to tank of fuel, and he spent more in burnt up bars than we did in flooding the chain with oil.

 

[Ben Hur]

I had problems with the grove packed with chips as others have. I think they went back to solid drivers again. Not many problems in same wood with solid drivers.

Holes could be my problem this whole time. I’m trying out solid drive tomorrow!

 

[Ben Hur]

Is square filing your chain worth the effort? I’m thinking about trying it but requires a lot of time patience. I’m not sure if it’s that much faster than a skilled round filing?

 

[Westboastfaller]

Is square filing your chain worth the effort? I’m thinking about trying it but requires a lot of time patience. I’m not sure if it’s that much faster than a skilled round filing?

No, not in a 'work chain' in softwood. Files are expensive, It has become a lost art on the hill. Most guys grind in the PNW. Even round filing is becoming less and less in BC. All the young guys buy their way into a vevy expensive felling course and learn how to grind. You don't even see round filing in production Falling in the AK or WA state.
There are/were guys that would push the angle and were certainly faster than work angles (there it be round-square or square-square) but are hand filing through the day where as a work chain angles with RC or SC will last for a 6.5 hour day in clean wood. So they are making time here and losing time there. Time that can't be made back up
It's smooth especially limbing hard vertical angle branches. Effortless. It just sucks right in without having to hit it on a full rev.
Good for fixing and cleaning out undercuts too for that ability of digging in on angle cuts.

 

[Ben Hur]

No, not in a 'work chain' in softwood. Files are expensive, It has become a lost art on the hill. Most guys grind in the PNW. Even round filing is becoming less and less in BC. All the young guys buy their way into a vevy expensive felling course and learn how to grind. You don't even see round filing in production Falling in the AK or WA state.
There are/were guys that would push the angle and were certainly faster than work angles (there it be round-square or square-square) but are hand filing through the day where as a work chain angles with RC or SC will last for a 6.5 hour day in clean wood. So they are making time here and losing time there. Time that can't be made back up
It's smooth especially limbing hard vertical angle branches. Effortless. It just sucks right in without having to hit it on a full rev.
Good for fixing and cleaning out undercuts too for that ability of digging in on angle cuts.

Thanks for the tip. I’ll stick to what I’m used to, round.

 

[gnef]

I just had a random thought about something that could be a contributing factor. Can you check the tangs of your drive links and feel if the leading edges are rounded or if they are still square? They look a bit rounded to me from the picture, but I can't be completely sure.

The reason why I think this could be a contributing factor is that if they are rounded, they are more likely to pack dust and chips into the side of the bar groove and cause the jam. If they are square, they are more likely to operate as they should and essentially scrape the dust and chips out from the sides (it will still pack it into the bottom of the groove). You should be able to sharpen these with your round file (I found this oregon pdf that shows pictures and gives a more in depth explanation: https://www.oregonproducts.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/MM_EN.pdf go to page 55 of the pdf, or page 51 according to the numbering on the pages themselves)

Another thought is to check the groove depth. If there isn't enough space to allow for some grime to collect there, it will cause binding much more quickly.

 

[Ben Hur]

I just had a random thought about something that could be a contributing factor. Can you check the tangs of your drive links and feel if the leading edges are rounded or if they are still square? They look a bit rounded to me from the picture, but I can't be completely sure.

The reason why I think this could be a contributing factor is that if they are rounded, they are more likely to pack dust and chips into the side of the bar groove and cause the jam. If they are square, they are more likely to operate as they should and essentially scrape the dust and chips out from the sides (it will still pack it into the bottom of the groove). You should be able to sharpen these with your round file (I found this oregon pdf that shows pictures and gives a more in depth explanation: https://www.oregonproducts.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/PDF/MM_EN.pdf go to page 55 of the pdf, or page 51 according to the numbering on the pages themselves)

Another thought is to check the groove depth. If there isn't enough space to allow for some grime to collect there, it will cause binding much more quickly.

Okay I’ll check the drives, it does make since.

 

[John Stryker]

As some others have already said, lift your bar out of the bottom of the kerf before you let off the throttle. Stopping the chain in the middle of a cut often causes a bunch of sawdust to jam under the chain, in my experience anyways.